Archive Project

About the Project

The commitment of the Archive Project is: to protect the intellectual property of the Windhorse Project; to preserve the authentic Windhorse tradition for future generations; to serve the learning needs of the international network of Windhorse practitioners, and of all persons exploring recovery from extreme states; to be a clear voice of sanity in our challenged world.

History

The founding of the Windhorse Project in Boulder, Colorado in 1981, was a seminal event in the field of clinical work with persons suffering with serious mental disorders. The first Windhorse therapeutic community was the culmination of the career of Edward Podvoll, MD, a pioneer who joined his classical psychoanalytic training with intensive contemplative experience during the last 30 years of his life. Dr. Podvoll inspired a generation of therapists through 3 life phases: his teaching at Naropa University (1978-1990); his work with Windhorse (1981-2002) that culminated in the publication of his Recovering Sanity (Shambhala Publications, 2002); and his 12-year intensive meditation retreat. The last year of his life (2002-2003) he lived in Boulder, CO, where he continued to teach and consult with the poignant intimacy of a dying man.

Mr. Jeffrey Fortuna and several colleagues had worked alongside Dr. Podvoll from 1978 through his death, and inherited his extensive intellectual legacy. This legacy consists of the copyright to his book; 600 audio taped lectures and clinical consultations; cartons of manuscripts, lecture and author notes, clinical logs, and correspondence. In addition to this material, we have archived 26 years of recorded teaching and writing by other Windhorse therapists and clients, and many of our mentors. Mr. Fortuna is now the Director of The Windhorse Archive Project, which encompasses both the Edward Podvoll Legacy Project as well as the more general Windhorse Archive. This is an extensive and valuable archive that we intend to preserve and share with future generations of persons, organizations, and universities, interested in exploring the psychology of and recovery from extreme states of human experience. The Archive is to be an evolving internet-based resource library supported by The Windhorse Guild.

The Windhorse Project continues to develop as an international network of students and practitioners, with its center in Boulder, CO. We continue to evolve our knowledge base in the fields of in-home care for those in psychosis; with the elderly; with children; and with persons struggling with closed-head injuries, substance abuse, and with any of a variety of character, mood, and anxiety disorders. The Windhorse Guild is the steward organization committed to developing the Windhorse Archive Project as an accessible learning resource for future generations of mental health practitioners, those who suffer extreme states, and their families.

We are in the preliminary phase of archiving and will be adding materials to this site as they are ready.